MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) collected in October 833 samples from Russian athletes, a spokeswoman for the agency told TASS on Tuesday.

"We have collected 833 samples in October," she said adding that the total number of collected doping probes since the start of the year amounted to 9,886 and this number includes 970 samples collected in January, 1,039 in February, 990 in March, 1,029 in April, 1,034 in May, 935 in June, 1,071 in July, 1,122 in August, 863 in September and 833 in October.

In 2023, RUSADA collected an overall number of 11,091 doping samples, and this figure stood at 11,053 in 2022.

RUSADA inked a cooperation agreement with the Turkish anti-doping laboratory in March 2022, which had valid accreditation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Under Russia’s previously limited air traffic with Europe, the agreement allowed RUSADA to conduct testing of athletes’ blood samples within the required period, as well as to carry on with its program on athletes’ biological passports.